Sunday, January 16, 2011

Ports of exemption..

I had the occasion to journey through the Indianapolis International Airport the other day. They have a lot of rules about going into the airport, parking your car, unloading your luggage, loading your luggage, standing in line, getting on your plane, and getting off of your plane. They also have a rule about not smoking. They have a lot of signs up about not smoking, and every few minutes some guy gets on the PA system and reminds us that we can’t smoke anywhere, inside or outside, on airport property.

Since I’m not a smoker, it didn’t create any hardship on me particularly, and besides, I’ve always figured that whoever owned a property had the right to decide if people could smoke on it or not, although I’ll have to admit I’m not sure who made this particular decision on this particular property.

I did happen to notice, however, that while we were sitting on the plane, getting ready to take off, the gentleman who was spraying the de-icer on the airplane’s wings was puffing contentedly away. That didn’t particularly concern me, although it did remind me a lot of the lawmakers we send to Indianapolis and Washington every election.

Congress and our state legislatures are fond of making laws that apply to about everyone except themselves, as well as granting favors that apply to themselves but few others. Congress required that about everybody participate in the Social Security program, save themselves and a few other selected groups and individuals. Our state legislature granted themselves a retirement program that takes $4.00 from the taxpayers for every dollar they contribute.

More recently, the government has been exempting certain groups from the health insurance bill that was passed last year. So far, I haven’t been able to be in one of those groups.

I don’t know about the guy that sprays the de-icer on the planes at the airport.

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About Me

I'm the chairman of the Libertarian Party of Wayne County. I've been married for 40 years to the only elected Libertarian judge in Indiana. We are the parents of three grown children and the grandparents of five beautiful granddaughters and two grandsons.
I enjoy writing about some of my experiences, and I hope somebody enjoys reading it.